


take my hand (let's see where we wake up tomorrow)

by moonkisses



Series: the stars live within us [3]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Falling In Love, Fluff, M/M, but oh well, me being obviously partial towards this ship, really random jumps ? in the plot, soft seungmin, veela hyunjin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-23 03:22:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13181304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonkisses/pseuds/moonkisses
Summary: everyone’s had a crush on hwang hyunjin at some point in their lives, but seungmin's pretty sure he’s the only one who hasn’t gotten over it.(more precisely, he's the only one who can’t get over it. )





	take my hand (let's see where we wake up tomorrow)

o.

everyone has had a crush on hwang hyunjin at some point in their lives.

each student at hogwarts had turned their heads to stare at the passing slytherin, his eyes curved and his head thrown back in a loud laugh, cheeks blooming red as they fight the urge to drop to their knees and profess their undying love for the boy (most of the time, they had failed both in resisting the boy’s charm and in getting more than an apologetic smile in exchange for their confession).

(“why don’t you ever give them a chance?” jisung had asked once when they were in their dorm, slumped in their beds or over their homework. “who knows, what if one of them really does like you?”

“they don’t,” hyunjin had answered flatly. “it’s just the veela blood.” that had shut jisung up, and changbin had shot him a sympathetic look from where he sat.

“besides,” he had said, adding in a wink, "i already have you guys.”

changbin’s eyes turned disgusted and he gasps as though burnt. jisung fake gags. hyunjin throws a balled up scarf and gets a smelly pair of socks hurled at him in return.)

everyone has been rendered speechless by hyunjin at some point, yes – but only one person seems to be unable to find his voice again.

 

i.

hyunjin meets kim seungmin when they’re both eleven years old first years scrambling to find their way around the castle. he’s rushing up some tricky stairs to get to his transfiguration class on time, just starting to regret getting separated from jisung and changbin, when another boy making his way down gets pushed by some passing taller upperclassmen into hyunjin.

surprised, he catches the smaller boy by his arms, stumbling back into the railings. immediately, the boy says, “ _merlin_ i’m so sorry i didn’t mean to – ” and then he’s pulling away from hyunjin, roundish cheeks stained a peachy shade of pink as he blinks at him. his robes and ties were lined blue and bronze, and he had soft brown hair falling all over his wide eyes, warm and worried, and his pink lips were shaped into a small, surprised ‘o.’ “i’m really sorry.”

hyunjin doesn’t realise he’s staring until the ravenclaw averts his eyes, the colour on his cheeks growing darker, and hyunjin coughs. “it’s fine,” he says, and extends a hand at which the ravenclaw blinks, “i’m hwang hyunjin, by the way, and – ” and he has no idea why he feels the need to introduce himself to this random kid. “i’m late for transfiguration class.”

the ravenclaw still doesn’t look at him, but his mouth curves into the smallest of smiles. “kim seungmin,” he introduces, taking his hand. “i’m on my way to the library – ah, you should really run. i don’t think the professors like latecomers very much.”

“see you around, then!”

 

“seungmin!”

seungmin’s head jerks up from where he’s curled up on a seat in the library, so fast hyunjin was afraid he might have gotten whiplash, his cheeks flushing and looking away when he meets hyunjin’s eyes (he really did have that effect on people – probably the veela glamour). jisung raises an eyebrow at hyunjin as he practically runs over to the ravenclaw’s table.

“ah,” seungmin says, “hyunjin. and – ”

“jisung!” jisung says enthusiastically, shaking seungmin’s hand, “han jisung. i’m hyunjinnie’s best friend!”

“yeah, although ‘best friend’ may be cutting it a bit too close,” hyunjin says, and jisung whacks his shoulder. seungmin watches the exchange with his eyes wide and questioning, flitting over to jisung often, because jisung had his own effect on people too, though this was actually a best case kind of scenario.

after their initial meeting, hyunjin had found himself grinning at a pinking seungmin from across the great hall and in between classes, and even when hyunjin stumbles upon seungmin in the library. he’d joined him in study sessions where they half studied and half laughed with each other, although this is the first time he’d brought jisung with him.

(changbin had stubbornly planted himself on his bed, saying something about sleep deprivation.)

“c’mon,” jisung whines, “i can’t believe you’re treating me like this when i promised to lay off of teasing you about your veela blood!”

seungmin’s eyebrows shoot upwards, and hyunjin’s stomach drops when he sees seungmin’s expression, waiting for the disgust to come. jisung’s eyes widened, and he shot an apologetic look at hyunjin. people had always reacted quite… funnily to finding out about hyunjin’s lineage. he can’t really blame them, though he was young and innocent and their fears were arguably unfounded, because veela charms were dangerous, no matter how diluted their blood was.

“i, uh – ” hyunjin gulps, mouth parting as he tries to think of some flimsy excuse or apology. “i’m sorry – if it, uh, makes you uncomfortable then – ”

“it’s fine.”

hyunjin blinks. “what?” in his seat, jisung visibly relaxes.

“it’s fine.” seungmin’s face lights up with a kind smile, beaming at hyunjin. “it was a bit shocking, but – it’s fine.”

“you’re okay with being friends with me…?” hyunjin’s heart possibly skips a beat. “you don’t think i’m bad, do you?”

seungmin grins. “i think you’re really cool.”

 

ii.

it’s the first quidditch game for the year – and hyunjin’s first actual quidditch game – and he spends the morning watching the ravenclaw table, looking for a certain boy who’d promised to watch the game today. seungmin, despite his definite interest in the sport, wasn’t actually invested to the point where his presence in each game was guaranteed, especially when his house isn’t even playing, and so hyunjin had insisted on making him promise to come and watch his first game.

(“i feel like i should get you to make an unbreakable vow,” hyunjin mumbles sulkily as seungmin continues to tease him with a wide, boxy smile. he could be quite strange at times, after all.

“aw, hyunjinnie,” seungmin had said, smile softening, “you know i wouldn’t break a promise to you, right?”

hyunjin’s cheeks set themselves aflame, and he promptly looks away as seungmin giggles.)

seungmin, however, had been absent all throughout breakfast, and by the time the slytherin team have arrived at the pitch, geared up and brooms at the ready, there was still no sign of their ravenclaw friend. hyunjin’s brows furrow, wholly disappointed and more than a bit hurt. beside him, changbin seems to pick up on his souring mood, bringing a hand up to pat him on the back encouragingly. he nudges jisung, who snaps to attention immediately.

“maybe something came up,” changbin offers, trying to get hyunjin to relax, “he wouldn’t have ditched unless it was really important.”

“maybe you should have gone through with the vow,” jisung says lightheartedly.

“guess so.” he shrugs, trying to play it off. nobody really believes it, but they pretend they do anyway. “it’s no big deal, there’ll be other games anyway.”

changbin looks at him with poorly concealed concern while jisung flat out frowns at his obviously gloomy mood. hyunjin gives them a tight smile, and then the whistle’s being blown as they’re called on to mount their brooms.

 

at least twenty minutes into the game, fourth year slytherin kim jaehwan’s hilariously scathing commentary had gone from actual commentary and borderline insults about each player to the direct targeting of hyunjin, screeching _what are you_ doing _hwang hyunjin get your head into the game!_ into the staticky microphone, and, in all honesty, he couldn’t agree more. if he didn’t’ have the veela glamour that had been strong enough to distract the opposing players, he’s pretty sure their seeker would have been able to snatch the prize already. thankfully enough, hyunjin blocking and flying side by side with chaeyoung had been somewhat enough to fluster her and throw her off guard.

changbin’s just shot past him growling about how he’s gonna throw him off his broom if he doesn’t get his marbles together when he sees brown hair falling carelessly into a familiar face, and he has to look twice to make sure that that’s actually kim seungmin with a silver and green banner, beaming up at him with pink cheeks and a broad smile.

and a fluttering golden snitch, hovering just in front of sungmin.

hyunjin grins and wastes no time in diving for the gold.

 

“you are an idiot,” is the first thing he hears when the nurse finally allows his friends to see him, not without grumbling about how quidditch is a barbaric sport that should be banned from schools such as hogwarts. he smiles sheepishly at seungmin, whose brows are knit tightly together, frowning at him, arms crossed over his chest. changbin and jisung are also there, with changbin looking at him exasperatedly, and jisung looking thoroughly amused. “you’re an idiot who caught his first snitch by jumping from his broom and crashing into the stands.”

“yes, well – i’m still the idiot who won,”  hyunjin says, feeling ridiculous amounts of happiness despite having just went through the process of having the broken bones in his arm fixed – which was, for some reason, more tiring than the process of breaking the bones itself.  “and you came to watch the game.”

seungmin’s eyes soften, frown melting away into a gentle smile. “of course i did, you toerag,” he breathes out. “i promised, didn’t i?”

behind the ravenclaw, changbin shoots a snickering jisung an _i told you so_ kind of look. hyunjin couldn’t care less, because seungmin had come to watch him play. he kept his promise.

also, why was his heart racing like this?

 

iii.

“want to go to hogsmeade together?”

seungmin smiles at hyunjin’s invitation, cocking his head to the side away from where hyunjin’s got his chin hooked over his shoulder, arms looped around his waist casually – _he needs to eat more,_ hyunjin muses idly, feeling the ravenclaw’s thinner body against his own – and looking at him with wide, pleading puppy eyes. he speaks with a teasing tone. “i don’t know, hyunjinnie, let me think about it for a second. or maybe give me a few days, i don’t know. _do_ i want to go to hogsmeade with you?”

hyunjin whines, shoving the ravenclaw away playfully. across from them, jisung coughs loudly, as if to say _excuse me i am here i exist please take this sickeningly excessive display of affection somewhere else_. seungmin smiles apologetically, cheeks blushing brightly.

“you know i’ll go with you guys,” seungmin says, laughing, “i was just teasing. say, though,” he suddenly adds, humming thoughtfully, before a disappointed expression flashes on his face, “oh, nevermind – i forgot second years weren’t allowed to go to hogsmeade just yet.”

jisung perks up at this. “why? were you planning on inviting jeonginnie?” seungmin nods, and jisung continues, “ah, it’s too bad. jeongin’s such a cute kid.” that was true – jeongin had somehow become the baby of their little makeshift group, and both chan and seungmin had taken quite the liking to the younger hufflepuff, who was only a year below them.

“chan hyung’s really protective over him,” seungmin adds, and they laugh together. jisung glances at hyunjin,who’s gone quiet.

“anything wrong, hyunjin-ah?”

“oh – nothing,” he answers, breath stuck in his throat, “just thinking of this potions essay, ha.”

jisung’s got a mischievous glint in his eyes. hyunjin would rather not think about what it means (knowing jisung, it’s got to be _something)._

 

“do you reckon jeongin would like these?”

hyunjin grits his teeth tightly, just a tad bit irritated by the fact that seungmin’s thinking of jeongin when he’s with him and changbin (no jisung – the boy had unfortunately landed himself in a bit of trouble after he’d jinxed some kid for calling fourth year hufflepuff lee minho a mudblood and the kid had fought back – only, he fought back with his fists, and it had escalated from then on).

changbin glances at him staring intensely at some pepper imps and decides to salvage the situation for him. “i think you should get honeydukes’ best chocolate and some sugar quills,” he says coolly, pointedly ignoring the way seungmin‘s eyes widen at him in surprise. “or some chocolate frogs. dunno.”

seungmin considers this for a while before he nods brightly, saying, “alright then,” and taking a bit of what changbin said. suddenly, he says, “hyunjinnie what about you?”

hyunjin startles out of his little staring contest, whipping around to face seungmin. “uh, sorry – what was that?”

seungmin’s tinkling giggles fill the cold air, and he reaches out to slip his hand in hyunjin’. the touch sends fireworks exploding in his chest, despite the fact that this wasn’t the first time seungmin initiated skinship, nor was it the most he’d given. “d’you want anything?” he asks, “my treat!” and then he throws in a wink that all three of them cringe and laugh at. suddenly, hyunjin doesn’t feel as sullen.

(why had he been feeling down in the first place? he shakes his head at himself.)

opening his mouth to reply,  he’s suddenly cut off by the sound of a timid female voice calling his name. surprised, he turns around, seeing a petite girl, just around their age, holding a pretty pink envelope.

“um,” is all he says, flustered. this wasn’t the first time he’d received a confession, but to be confessed to so publicly had made him so. “thank you…?”

the girl flushes, eyes darting to the two boys behind him, and that makes him look back, too. changbin’s already looking at him with eyes that say _not my problem anymore, bud_ , as if he expected hyunjin to look at him for help; and seungmin –

he barely manages to catch unfamiliarly dark eyes and a blank expression, pink mouth curved into an unpleasant frown. the girl makes a small sound, as though she’d been squeezed or stepped on, before she scurries off to her friends, mumbling a small thanks.

when he looks back at seungmin, the boy’s smiling again, although hyunjin thinks it doesn’t quite reach his eyes anymore.

 

iv.

hyunjin thinks he falls in love on the christmas of their fourth year.

he finds himself cooped up in his dorm alone, changbin and jisung having gone home for break. supposedly, he would have gone home as well, but his parents were away on a business trip of sorts this year, and he doesn’t really see the point in going home then, so he makes the decision to stay at school for the break – the first time he’done so, and things haven’t really been exciting nor boring so far.

looking down at the mess of love letters scattered around him on the floor, he huffs, moving to push them all into one corner. he has half the mind to throw them all away – it’s not that he didn’t appreciate their… admiration, it’s just that he knows he’s only getting so much attention _again_ because of the sudden hit of puberty, accompanied by a boost in the veela charm that brought way more trouble than what it’s worth. hyunjin doubts half of these writers even know him personally, or at least enough to actually know his personality enough to like him for a reason other than his looks or the fact that he was slytherin’s seeker.

besides, if he was being honest, he wasn’t interested at all. not in any one of them.

huffing, he makes his way out of the slytherin dungeons, waving amiably at the few students in the common room before he leaves.

 

the library is empty when he pushes the wide doors open, so he goes straight to the magical creatures section. he walks between the shelves, dragging thin fingers across the spines of the musty old books with soft, mostly inaudible _thumps._

when he doesn’t find a book about what he’s looking for, he simply sighs in exhaustion and pulls out a random,  slightly torn apart potions book from a different shelf, then marches over to sit at the nearest table he finds, sneezing when dust floats out from the pages in a murky cloud.

 

when he wakes up, there’s the distinct sound of someone hushing someone to silence, followed by the ticklish feeling of light fingers brushing hair away from his eyes. immediately, he cracks one open and is pleasantly surprised by the sight of kim seungmin’s face hovering near his own.

“like what you see?” he teases. immediately, there’s a dusting of pink on seungmin’s cheeks, spreading over his nose  as he jerks away. someone snickers from behind seungmin, and hyunjin moves to see jeongin grinning at him, braces and all.

“ah, that’s hwang hyunjin for you,” seungmin replies, smiling, too, as he stands up straight. “d’you have anything to do, jinnie?”

hyunjin’s heart flutters at the cute nickname. “not really. what’s up?”

something flickers in jeongin’s eyes. hyunjin thinks it’s a little _too_ similar to the mischievous look jisung gets in his whenever he’s planning something. “seungminnie hyung wanted to show you something!”

“really?” hyunjin’s eyes flit from jeongin to seungmin. “what is it?”

seungmin grins, holding a hand out. “c’mon, you gotta follow us to see it.”

 

the large, heavyset doors of the room of requirement are already there when they arrive. seungmin looks around sneakily before he pushes the door open and ushers hyunjin and jeongin inside, where the room has transformed to provide them a small, quaint room. there are quilts and bean bags scattered around the floor, a soft carpet in the middle of the room, with a cozy fire crackling in the hearthside just in front of it. and there – a strange, wooden-looking contraption rests against the wall, with a wide, somewhat circular body, a thinner strip of wood attached, with strings stretching from one end to another, over a hole in the wider piece.

hyunjin watches with his brows furrowed in confusion as seungmin takes the contraption in his hands, placing it on his thighs for support as he takes a seat on one of the bean bags. jeongin’s already made himself at home, snuggled in one of the quilts, and seungmin gestures for him to make himself comfortable, too, so he settles across him. his knees knock against seungmin’s when he sits down, so he shifts backwards a little, smiling at seungmin as an apology. the ravenclaw gives him a small smile in return before he goes back to fiddling with the little silver knobs at the smaller end of the – the whatever it was.

“what’s that?” hyunjin finally asks, gasping when seungmin drags his fingers along the strings, the instrument producing a sound that wasn’t quite unpleasant like hyunjin thought it would be. seungmin grins up at him.

“it’s a guitar!” he says excitedly, one hand moving tightly across the thinner piece, “it’s a muggle instrument. for music, you know?” hyunjin nods along, still eyeing the guitar. “i didn’t know how to use it, but woojin hyung taught me to play this song on it! i was actually surprised he knew how to play one, but the more you know, i guess.”  seungmin strums some more, his hands moving simultaneously now, and the melody that comes out actually sounds nice.

“are you gonna play it?”

“he’s gonna sing, actually,” jeongin says from his nest. hyunjin’s eyes light up.

“i had no idea you sing!” he exclaims, leaning forward excitedly. “let me hear?” he asks, this time a little more gently, and seungmin flushes prettily.

“that’s what i brought you here for, you know,” he says with a little laugh.  “quiet now, i’m not exactly good at this just yet.”

 _i’m sure you’re excellent,_ hyunjin wants to say, but already seungmin’s strumming the instrument again, his hand moving along the strings with careful fingers half-covered with the sleeves of the large sweater he was wearing (hyunjin really wants to take him in his arms and just lay there cuddling, but he resists the urge). the melody plays, simple and sweet, and hyunjin finds himself humming along.

when seungmin starts singing softly,  a dash of hesitation evident in his voice, hyunjin finds his breath caught in his throat, eyes glued to the way seungmin’s half lidded eyes were focused on the strings of the guitar and the way his eyebrows were knitting together in concentration as seungmin’s voice fills the room.

_please see me, reaching out for someone i can’t see;_

_take my hand let’s see where we wake up tomorrow,_

_best laid plans are sometimes just a one night stand;_

_i’ll be damned cupid’s demanding back his arrow_

his voice is somehow so sweet and powerful, just the perfect mix in between, and hyunjin can’t help but close his eyes, lost in the song.

_but are we all lost stars,_

_trying to light up the dark_

when seungmin’s singing stops with an abrupt, sharp inhale, hyunjin’s eyes flutter open, seeing the ravenclaw sitting in front of him with small, anxious fidgets, guitar laying in his lap. “how was it?”

hyunjin leans back, suddenly hyperaware of the fact that they were just a hair’s breadth away only a few fleeting seconds ago, and the colour on his cheeks being almost the same shade as his lips. “it’s amazing,” he breathes out, eyes roaming across seungmin’s face. “you’re amazing.”

seungmin smiles, pleased. “too much.”

“too little,” hyunjin says, and, out of nowhere, reaches out to brush seungmin’s hair down. it’s soft, and hyunjin catches the faint, sweet smell of his shampoo when he leans in a little closer. seungmin’s warm eyes meet his and the reaction is immediate – he squirms, looking away shyly.

“ah, you’re really pretty,” hyunjin blurts out, unable to help himself – it was ironic how much he was attracted to seungmin, as though he was the one with veela blood in him instead of hyunjin. seungmin freezes, eyes darting to everywhere but hyunjin. he glances at jeongin, who had conveniently fallen asleep some time earlier.

“thank you,” seungmin murmurs, and suddenly he’s looking up at hyunjin, a determined expression on his face. “i – ”

a great grey own chooses that moment to swoop in through a window the room of requirement must have accommodated for it, screeching loudly. a dainty envelope sealed with a small heart flutters to his lap. it smells too strongly of flowers, and hyunjin thinks it was probably charmed to be that way.

scowling, he snatches the letter away, slipping it somewhere in his pockets. when he looks back up at seungmin, the boy’s got a closed off expression on his face, frown twisting unpleasantly, and hyunjin feels his heart drop.

“seungmin?” he asks gently, and seungmin’s eyes snap back to his. “what were you gonna say?”

seungmin takes a moment to respond. “ah, i forgot it,” he says lightly, and then moves to stand up. disappointment blossoms in hyunjin’s heart. “i’m starving, though – you wanna go to the kitchens?”

hyunjin doesn’t really – he’d rather go back to where they were just moments ago, but he nods, resigned. too late to go back now.

 

v.

“i don’t get it,” jisung announces, dropping his bag on the seat across from hyunjin. changbin grunts in response. jisung sighs dramatically. “why aren’t you and seungmin dating yet?”

hyunjin promptly starts choking on empty air, and his quill goes streaking across his parchment, a stark black line dirtying the essay. a smirk slowly crosses changbin’s face, and he leans forward on the table as he says, “yeah, jinnie, why aren’t you and seungmin dating yet?”

“i would like to be excused from this narrative,” hyunjin declares, moving to shove his study things in his bag. jisung slaps his hand away with a roll of parchment, and hyunjin narrows his eyes at him. “you’re spending too much time with minho hyung.”

“at least i’m _dating_ minho hyung,” jisung replies scathingly, “meanwhile _you_ and seungmin have been dancing around each other on tiptoes for, like, _five years,_ you losers.”

“we have _not_ ,” hyunjin denies with much fervor. “we’re just friends.”

“friends who hug excessively in public and serenade each other in the room of requirement?” changbin asks, looking very much unimpressed. hyunjin’s face feels warm.

“good friends.”

jisung snorts. hyunjin glares at him – at the both of them – before he continues. “besides, even if i liked him – ”

“which you _do_ – ”

“ – who’s to say he actually likes me back?” hyunjin ignores jisung’s side comment and changbin’s grumbling. “and even if he _does,_ who’s to say he doesn’t just like me because of the veela charm?”

jisung gasps loudly. “hwang hyunjin you did _not_ just say that to my face.” hyunjin stares at him, looking all sorts of miserable, and changbin groans.

“you’re dumb,” changbin says bluntly – as if it hadn’t been obvious enough. still, hyunjin has the gall to look offended. “whatever effect the charm had probably went to shit after a year or something – ” jisung nods, gesturing to changbin and himself.

“living proof.”

“besides,” changbin continues, not before slapping jisung’s shoulder without looking. he leans back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest, “the kid literally looks at you with stars in his eyes, hyunjin-ah, i’m pretty sure he has a crush on you, veela or not.”

hyunjin presses his lips into a thin line. “even so,” he finally says, looking at his friends tiredly. “how am i supposed to tell him i like him?”

jisung barks out a laugh at this, which earns them a hard glare from the librarian. changbin hisses at him to shut up.

“are you kidding?”

hyunjin sends him a flat look, and jisung runs a palm over his face. “i can’t believe i’m actually doing this – ” he huffs loudly. they’re all quiet for a few moments before he slams a palm on the table. “alright. hwang hyunjin, what class do we share with ravenclaw this year?”

hyunjin’s eyes turn from tired to confused. “potions?”

“uh huh,” jisung says, “and what’s our next lesson in potions?”

hyunjin’s eyes widen as he catches onto jisung’s train of thought, changbin right behind him.

suddenly, changbin sits up straighter in his seat. “i don’t think this is a smart idea – ”

“i don’t think we have any smarter ideas so – ”

changbin sighs. “don’t say i didn’t warn you if this goes awry.”

 

o.

seungmin shifts in his seat as hyunjin takes his seat next to him, smile sweet in greeting. seungmin smiles back, heart squeezing almost painfully in his chest. he waves at jisung and changbin as well, before he goes back to scribbling messy little doodles on the back of his parchment, trying to ignore hyunjin’s presence beside him.

it’s been five years, yet every time he sees the slytherin, it feels like he’s meeting him for the first time all over again. he knows the veela inheritance plays a part in his attraction to the boy, but he knows it’s far deeper than that. this is hwang hyunjin, the slytherin seeker who’d made him promise to watch his first game in their second year, the boy he’d sung to when he first learned to play the guitar in their fourth year and had called him pretty then – seungmin can remember woojin’s knowing smile when he’d asked to be taught – and the boy he’d fallen head over heels for ( _almost literally_ , he thinks, remembering their first meeting, when he’d first been charmed by the boy – and he _knows_ it wasn’t just the veela glamour that had made his heart skip back then).

this is also the boy who had everyone falling at his knees and professing their love for him at least once in their lives. seungmin’s mind flashes back to the letters he’d received – the girl at honeydukes, the owl in the room of requirement, and probably hundreds more – and he knows he stands no chance, not when everyone else was so much better and so much more attractive than him.

everyone’s had a crush on hwang hyunjin at some point in their lives, but seungmin's pretty sure he’s the only one who hasn’t gotten over it.

(more precisely, he's the only one who _can’t_ get over it.)

even so, he can’t help the warmth that buzzes inside him whenever hyunjin drapes himself over him in a backhug, or when he slots his hand with seungmin’s, or when he rests his head against seungmin’s shoulder, chin hooked over it so he can watch seungmin’s brows furrow in concentration, his nose filling with the scent of warm cotton, the slytherin uncaring about the looks they’re getting while the ravenclaw’s whole being burns. it’s foolish to hope, but it’s _there_.

when the professor comes in and hyunjin’s hand grips his arm to snap him into attention, seungmin fights the urge to rip his arm away.

when they open their textbooks to the page professor park had told them to, he feels his blood run cold as he sees the words written on top of the page in thick, fancy script, staring back at him mockingly. _love potions_. it was like the world was specifically targeting him right now (although – when was it ever _not_?)

the class bursts into excited whispers, not even bothering to hide it, and some girls near the front start giggling; out of the corner of his eye, he sees changbin glance back at – him? hyunjin? he couldn’t tell. next to him, hyunjin makes a small, strangled noise, his nose scrunching up as he, too, sees the page. seungmin doesn’t know what was worse – focusing on the lesson or on hyunjin.

“quiet now,” the professor chides, and the chatter melts away into silence as his narrowed eyes rake over the class. “as you can all see, we’ll be talking about love potions today. no funny business, now – if  any of you even think about stealing any, i’ll be watching over you in detention myself.”

then he pulls out a small vial from his robes, the potion inside a sickening red colour. seungmin feels his stomach flip over anxiously. “we’ll be having a little… experiment today,” he announces, holding the potion up for everyone to see. “i’m sure you all know love potions smell different to anyone, yes?” when he gets a ripple of murmurs from the class, he goes on. “what i’m holding is no amortentia, but it’s quite strong itself. i want all of you to get a good whiff of it, and we’ll have a little discussion on how it smells like to you.”

when the stopper pops out of the vial, a sweet scent wafts across the room. it hits seungmin stronger than he had expected – his nostrils immediately fill with the scent of fresh parchment, the tangy scent of iced lemonade in summer, and, along with these, the familiar scent of clean, warm cotton.

his eyes betray him and flit over to hyunjin, who’s already looking at him with a soft sort of look in his eyes that makes him even prettier. hyunjin asks, “what does yours smell like?”

seungmin vaguely registers his heart picking up its pace. he shrugs, trying to act nonchalant about the whole thing. “it’s not very interesting,” he says slowly, picking his words carefully. “just… like fresh parchments and mom’s lemonade and – and home, i guess.”

(it’s not a lie – hyunjin _is_ home.)

there’s a slight hint of disappointment in hyunjin’s eyes, so seungmin hurries to shift the topic away from him. “what about yours?”

hyunjin hesitates for a second, teeth catching onto his lip, and seungmin’s already regretting that he even asked – merlin, he didn’t really need to know what hyunjin’s crush smelled like, if he had one – when he hears hyunjin say, “you.”

seungmin blinks dumbly. “excuse me?”

“i – ” hyunjin’s cheeks are tinged with a dainty shade of red. he coughs, clearing his throat. “i said it smells like freshly polished broomsticks, kkami, and you.”

seungmin’s brows furrow, confused. if what hyunjin was saying was true, then doesn’t that mean – “you _like_ me?”

hyunjin’s cheeks turn a shade darker. “no,” he says boldly, “i love you.” his eyes lock with seungmin’s, and there’s nothing malicious there, no hint of mischief, just plain honesty and maybe a bit of fear. seungmin sort of wants to burst into tears.

“you know,” he starts, and hyunjin perks up at his voice, “this is a really strange way of confe – ”

“mr. kim,” the professor’s voice cuts in between them out of a sudden, “it seems that you’re having a very interesting talk with mr. hwang back there. why don’t you share what the potions smells like to you to the whole class?”

seungmin’s heart races in his chest, and his throat feels stuck. he knows the whole class must be staring at him right now, and he can hear some people whispering loudly, but all he feels are hyunjin’s eyes lingering on him as he stands up, cheeks starting to warm.

“well?” professor park prompts. “go on.”

seungmin’s taking a deep breath when he feels a familiar hand slide into his, and he smiles as their fingers interwine, squeezing tightly; he knows what to say now.

“it smells like fresh parchment and iced lemonade at home, and - ” he takes a deep breath and says, “and like hyunjinnie.”

 

;

the owl swoops into the room through the open window, dropping a small white envelope with a single doodle of a sunflower and a small, ribbon-tied parcel on seungmin’s lap where he’s nestled amongst soft blankets and fluffy pillows. he picks his mail up, grinning widely when he sees jeongin’s signature scrawled at the bottom of the letter inside, when he hears the click of the knob, the creak of the door as it swings open.

“hey,” hyunjin greets, smile bright on his pretty face. “what’s that?” he asks when he sees the package, walking in to sit beside seungmin. automatically, his arms loop around seungmin, pulling the giggling ravenclaw closer to him.

“it’s from jeonginnie,” seungmin says, folding the letter and sliding it back into the envelope, tucking it between the ribbon on the parcel. when hyunjin reaches for it, seungmin flicks his hand away. “yah, jinnie, don’t open it just yet. wait until tonight, at least.”

hyunjin pouts. “alright, then,” he says, defeated. “mom wanted us downstairs so we can greet binnie and jisung when they arrive.”

“let’s go, then,” seungmin says, moving to stand up. hyunjin’s arms tighten around him instead, the slytherin protesting whinily.

“stay with me first,” hyunjin demands, pulling seungmin back down. “you’re supposed to be spending time with me.”

seungmin laughs. “you literally made me sleep in your bed with you last night instead of letting me sleep in my own,” he chides, “ and i’m supposed to be getting to know your family, jinnie, we’re literally always together at school anyway.”

hyunjin doesn’t relent, however, and seungmin resigns with a breathy laugh. “you’re such a spoiled brat,” he mumbles. “move over, i want that pillow over there.”

hyunjin grins as seungmin snatches a pillow from somewhere near his head, laughing when he pulls the blanket closer to him. “says _you_ , the blanket hogger,” hyunjin teases. seungmin sticks a tongue out at him. “brat.”

“i’m leaving,” seungmin says, and hyunjin laughs again, pulling seungmin against him, their cheeks stained a pretty pink. seungmin curls into him automatically, and he looks up at hyunjin looking at him with stars in his eyes. there’s a slight tug in his heart, and seungmin’s vaguely reminded of hyunjin’s special charms. they certainly do make moments like this incredibly flustering, in seungmin’s opinion.

he leans in closer, breathing in the scent of warm cotton.

(this is home.)

**Author's Note:**

> WHO AM I OH MYGO D LOOK AT THAT BLATANT FAVORITISM TOWARDS SEUNGJIN PLSFORGIVE ME IVE SINNED BUT LIKE i love these two so much so im like not sorry at all (jks i feel bad this fic is twice as long as the other two im crying) anw i hope u like this messy excuse for fluff and idk leave a comment if u want!!  
> 


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